Windows doesn't come with an md5 checksum tool so you will need to obtain a third-party utility, you'll find a selection here: portablefreeware.com.

Most utilities, for example Igorware Hasher, allow you to run the program and then browse to your downloaded iso and then calculate the checksum. Compare the result with the one obtained from the download page. Note that most third-party checksum utilities work from the 'Send To' menu in Windows Explorer.

If the checksums don't match, the file has been corrupted during download and you will need download the iso again.

Once you have a good iso you need to transfer it to CD or a USB stick ready for installation, please be aware that your computer needs to be capable of booting from your chosen media, often older PCs aren't capable of booting from USB.

To burn an iso you can't simply copy the files to the CD, your CD authoring software should have an option to burn an iso, if you do it correctly the disk should be full of different files, if you do it incorrectly you will just see the iso file on the disk.
When burning, choose a low speed to minimise the chance of errors.

Before booting from your chosen media, you need to ensure that the BIOS is enabled to boot it, to access the BIOS you will need to press a certain key / key combination immediately after boot, a message on screen will often show saying press 'X' to enter set up/settings. Common keys are F1 or F11.
Layouts for the BIOS screen vary but you need to find where the boot order is controlled and make sure your chosen media is booted before your hard drives.

When that's done save exit and shut down, then turn on your computer making sure your disc is in the drive or USB is plugged in.

If successful you should be presented with a CrunchBang menu. This will contain a list of options.
If you just want to see what CrunchBang is like, or to see if it works without installing it, select the first option, 'Live', This will allow you to run CrunchBang from the CD, without making any permanent changes to your computer, but be patient, CrunchBang will be significantly slower to load, then when booting from a hard drive.
If you have decided that you would like to install CrunchBang, select 'Text Install', this will begin the installation process.

It isn't currently possible to start installation from the live cd environment, the only way to initiate installation is from the live cd boot menu.

After you have selected 'Text Install' from the live cd menu, you will be presented with a series of screens to set up your system:

First you need to select the language you would like to use, using the up and down arrow keys and selecting by pressing enter (this is the language that will be used both during installation, and be your default language on the installed system).

Then your location.

Then you need to select your keyboard layout.

Then we move on to detecting network hardware, the installer will attempt to do this automatically, although if this fails you will then be allowed to set up your network manually.

The next step is assigning a host name to your machine, by default this is 'crunchbang', although you may want to change this, especially if you have another PC already using that host name.

Now you need to set up your partitions that CrunchBang will use, you will be presented with a few options:

If your hard drive contains a spare unformatted area, or you wish to wipe the existing data from the disk select 'Guided Partitioning', these will allow you to automatically set up the partitions you need, both will give you options of different partition setups (such as a separate /home partition, If you're unsure of the pros and cons of each option its probably safest to go for the first default option). From there you can select:

Guided - use entire disk. This will use the entire hard disk, any other operating systems you have will be overwritten.

Guided - use largest continuous space. This will allow you to dual boot Crunchbang with any other OSs you may have on your hard drive, automatically selecting partition sizes.

If your hard drive already has an operating system on it that you would like to keep, and is already completely formatted, you will need to create some space, so select 'Manual'.

you should see a list of partitions, like the one shown right, if you select the partition that you would like to resize and press enter, then select 'resize this partition', then enter the size you would like to shrink the existing partition to, the partition will now resize, (this may take some time). Now when you have returned to the main partition screen, you should see a partition listed as 'FREE SPACE'.

Now you have two options:

If you prefer you can then continue to use 'Guided - use largest continuous free space'(see above), this will set up all the Linux partitions that you need, this is recommended if this is your first Linux installation on your PC.

If you have previous Linux installations on this PC you may wish to reuse your existing swap and /home partitions in this case:

Select the free space and format it,

Then select the partition type (primary or logical), primary should be fine unless you have a large number of partitions.

Assuming the default settings are correct, in the next screen select 'done setting up up partition'.

Finally you need to confirm your partitions, so select 'Finish partitioning and write changes to disk'. After that installation will begin.

After Installation you need to set up a user account, first you will be asked for you full name.

In the next screen it will ask you for a user name, this is the name you will use for logging into your system.

You will then be asked for a password, used for logging in and administrative tasks.

After this you will be asked to confirm that you want a CrunchBang entry adding to your boot menu, you should go with the default 'yes'.